This document relates to negotiable instruments (e.g., checks) and printing thereof.
A check is a type of negotiable instrument that orders payment of money from a bank account. The person writing the check, the drawer, has a transaction banking account (often called a checking account) where their money is held. The drawer writes the various details including the monetary amount, date, and a payee on the check, and signs it, ordering their bank or financial institution, known as the drawee, to pay that person or company the amount of money stated from the checking account specified by the check.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show front and back sides, respectively, of a “blank” check 100—that is, a check that has been printed, e.g., by a check printing company, but which has not yet been filled out by the drawer to specify details such as the amount or payee. As shown in FIG. 1A, the blank check includes a rectangular piece of paper check stock (or other suitable substrate) on which various information has been imprinted using suitable inks or the like. This information typically includes a bank routing number 102, which specifies a particular bank or financial institution, a bank account number 104 (unique to a particular customer or drawer), a check number 106 (typically a serial number of a particular check within a series of checks) that appears at two locations on the check as shown, a signature field 108 (for signature by the drawer), a payee field 116, a numeric monetary amount field 110, an alphabetic monetary amount field 112, and a “For” or “memo” field in which the drawer optionally may include notes, e.g., relating to the underlying transaction to which the check relates. In general, a drawer (or someone on his/her behalf) is required to fill out fields 108, 110, 112, 114, and 116 in order for the check to be legally recognized. The check 100 also may include drawer's information 118 such as the drawer's name and address, and bank information 120 such as the bank's name and address.
FIG. 1B shows the reverse side (equivalently, the “back” or “backside”) of the check 100, which includes an endorsement field 122. Typically, the payee of the check 100 will provide his or her signature in the endorsement field 122 (and potentially other information such as “For Deposit Only”) when presenting the check to the drawee for deposit or payment of the specified amount.
Recently, banks and other financial institutions have started providing customers with a convenient service known as “mobile check deposit” that eliminates the need for a payee to bring the physical check to his or her bank for deposit. Typically, a mobile check service operates as follows: using a mobile device, such as a smart phone, that has a camera and a special purpose software application installed and executing thereon (“the mobile app”), a payee takes photos of the front and reverse sides of a filled out check to be deposited. The mobile app then uploads the images to a server associated with the financial institution, which uses optical character recognition (“OCR”) to determine the amount of the check, and to read other information on the check such as the routing number, the account number and the check number. Using this information, and subject to various check and verifications, the financial institution provisionally credits the payee's account by the amount of the check, and initiates communications within the banking network to cause the corresponding amount to be deducted from the drawer's account and transferred to the payee's account.